The present invention relates to down rigger and/or outrigger apparatus of the type used in maintaining the depth of a lure or bait attached to a fishing line during trolling. More particularly, the present invention relates to a unique line release for use with such down rigger or outrigger apparatus.
Heretofore, various systems have been proposed for maintaining the depth of the lure or bait attached to a fishing line during trolling type fishing operations. Typical of these systems are the down rigger devices. These devices include a weighted line to which a fishing line is attached. The down rigger weight is lowered to the desired depth thereby carrying the fishing line downwardly and the lure or bait trails the down rigger line in a generally horizontal manner. Such devices insure that the lure is maintained at the desired fishing depth.
Various mechanisms are known in the art for releasing the fishing line from the down rigger system when the lure or bait is struck by a fish. Such devices permit the line to be reeled in free from interference with the weighted down rigger line. Examples of such prior release mechanisms may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,370, entitled TROLLING DEVICE AND SYSTEM, and issued on May 2, 1972 to C. P. Ritter; U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,954, entitled FREE LINE DOWN RIGGER RELEASE and issued on June 18, 1974 to K. E. Bissonette; U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,074, entitled LIGHTWEIGHT, DEEP-TROLLING RIG FOR FISHING TACKLE and issued on Jan. 21, 1975 to W. P. Wood; U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,110, entitled DOWNRIGGER LINE RELEASE and issued on Apr. 1, 1975 to R. D. Larson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,148, entitled OUTRIGGER FISHING LINE SYSTEM WITH LINE RELEASE and issued on Sept. 16, 1975 to P. L. Naone et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,330, entitled OUTRIGGER FISHING LINE RELEASE CLIP and issued on Jan. 6, 1976 to A. D. Black; U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,589, entitled FISHING LINE RETENTION DEVICE and issued on Aug. 17, 1976 to W. Henze et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,863, entitled DOWNRIGGER RELEASE and issued on Mar. 22, 1977 to J. Lori.
All the devices disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Patents include provision for releasably securing a fishing line to a portion of a down rigger or outrigger apparatus. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,330 discloses a release including a body defining a vertical channel adjacent one edge through which the down rigger line is attached. Opposite the vertical channel, the body defines a generally vertical groove within which is partially disposed a pivoted arm. The free end of the arm is received within a resilient, bifurcated structure defined by the body.